Summer is starting as we have had an extended spring with our constant rain. We start taking vacations as we start this new season. Vacations are meant to revitalize and reenergize us. We escape the daily grind to get fresh perspective and create lasting memories. We get to spend extended time with family. Vacations are necessary for our growth.

Sometimes people take a vacation from God… they let their relationship with Him change… they stop talking to Him… they stop listening to Him. We stop praying and stop reading our Bible. We start believing a lie… that our relationship with God is not foundational to our life. We believe we can make it without Him.  

We may take a vacation from God’s people. The writer to the Hebrews wrote “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)  

There is a Day approaching… it is a reality that should be sobering. It is a reality that opposes our world system, our culture, and all the excuses we might have for God. Jesus has created the church to be a hospital for sinners… a place of encouragement for believers… a place for His glory.

The Apostle Paul wrote about this truth in his letter to the church gathered at Ephesus…”to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations.” (Ephesians 3:20) there is something unique about the church… the Ekklesia…the Greek word for church… a called out group of people for a definite purpose… to live out the gospel. How do we accomplish that? By loving God and then loving others!

Did Jesus go to church? We find in Luke’s gospel an answer… “… and on the Sabbath day he went up to the synagogue, as was his custom.” That was his custom… what is yours? What would be the reason for your vacation from God?... from church? What is the real cost of that vacation?  

Mark